In the introductory chapter titled ‘The interlinkage of cultural memory, heritage and discourses of construction, transformation and destruction’ which forms a part of his edited volume called Critical perspectives on cultural memory and heritage: construction, transformation and destruction, author, and critic Veysel Apaydin enunciates:

            “While the overall concept of cultural memory and heritage in theory and practice has been widely researched, the relationship between cultural memory and heritage needs further discussion in order to expose discourses of importance for groups and communities. In this chapter I do not attempt to argue that we need to be more obsessed with protection and preservation of heritage and memory. On the contrary: I aim to present and discuss the ways in which heritage transformation, reconstruction and destruction can be problematic for communities unless the communities themselves actively decide on- and engage with- these processes, from a bottom-up perspective.” (Apaydin, 13)

The current issue of Litinfinite, Vol. IV, Issue- I, discusses these critical paradigms that are so inextricably interwoven as part of framing memory and culture narratives. The framework behind the reading of individual and collective memory is one of the prerequisites in forming a distinct and dominant cultural patterns and identity.

The cultural matrix of any geographical region alters and gets modified from time to time hence the constant concept of identity also changes. Our first author, Hasan Hadi Ali writes on ‘The culture heritage protection: suggestive themes and views of August Wilson’s Fences.’ The paper is an insightful research piece on August Wilson’s depiction of the Afro-American identity in his play Fences. Highlighting the global racist, migration, identity and cultural tangibility issues among races and people, Hadid’s paper transcends the known boundaries of literary explorations.

The next author, Lalthansangi Ralte does extensive research on ‘Food, Memory, and Identity: tracing Mizo foodways. The distinct cultural pattern that is evident in the Mizo food activities are part of their customary rituals that enable them to authenticate and highlight their best identity. Their food culture is a specific way to define and reclaim the lost patterns across generations.

            Culture, memory, and identity as presented in literature are essential devices that contribute to an efficient understanding of any culture. Nancy Ciccone’s paper is on ‘Identity, memory and monuments: problematics of referentiality’. When it is about history and the establishment of monuments, it is where we stop to think and link all the layers of memory that are attached to this piece of history. Public moments, memory, and monuments inhabit a larger part of both the individual and the collective consciousness of any community, race, or ethnic group.

The extension of cultural studies, memory, and formation of identity in South Asian writings have gained much momentum in the last few decades. Vihanga Perera’s paper focuses on ‘The implication of indigenous folk memory in Lakdas Wikkrama Sinha’s poetry’. Sri Lankan poetry and the utilization of the cultural constructs as part of the global literary hemisphere should form an important part of the modern cultural and memory studies. The author discusses the essential anti-colonial stance of Wikkrama Sinha’s poetry has voiced forth a distinct poetic opinion and postcolonial appeal of its own.

            The next authors Hitesh D Raviya and Rohini Sharma explain and dissect deeper into ‘Mapping emotions, culture and identity through food and memory in Esther David’s Book of Rachel.’ The paper aims to magnify a Bene Israeli family and how food, culture and memory form an integral part to create a distinct identity of the characters in the text.

The process of community building, and its sustenance is made possible only with the help of foods and the interconnection between food and body. Md. Shahnawaz in his paper titled ‘The spectacle of death and deception: Analysing fictional and non-fictional writings on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre’ opines how the phase of massacre, mass violence and killing occupies a major phase in the history of the colonial people to ascertain their future identity. He has also discussed the major political, historical, and social ramifications that the massacre had.

            The next paper, Sandip Kumar Mishra’s ‘Sabuj Dwiper Raja: A fight for the rights of Jarawa identity and culture’ is an incisive research piece on reclaiming the Jarawa identity and cultural patterns that have for a long time been exploited due to tourism and western aggrandizement. The researcher has explained in detail how the natural habitat, environment and survival contexts have been constantly negotiated and how they have taken away the true identity of the Jarawas.

There is a huge discourse that we find in the delineation of the cultural praxis about identity formation across various lands. Hiya Mukherjee’s paper titled ‘Japane prasabkalin samaya prachalito satogaeri-shussan ritinitir tatparya’ (trs. Significance of Japanese childbirth rites: with special reference to the practice of satogaeri shussan) aims to bring to the fore all the traditional cultural rituals and all-pervasive community practices related to Japanese childbirth process. There is a reference to all the primary and secondary techniques that were made part of interviews and that helped the author to frame an idea about the domain of rituals in childbirth.

            The next paper is by Neenu Kumar who discusses ‘Representation of identity through narrativization of food in Julie and Julia (2009) and The Lunchbox (2013)’. The paper is a well-researched one, dealing with the interlinked relationship between identity and a definite food culture. How food is omnipotent in allowing a certain space and identification to the consumer is well-narrated in her paper. To add more variety to the series of papers that we have this time, Ria Banerjee’s ‘Performing memory: trauma and self in The Miniaturist of Junagadh and Forget me not’ is a vivid explanation of human subjectivity, trauma, forgetting, remembering, and going beyond the set cultural binaries. The researcher shows in her paper how the condensation of memory across a span and passage of time has always baffled the scholars and there is no single way in dealing with the pangs of memory in literature and in films.

            As we finally come to the end of the research papers, the last two papers need mention here. Sreya Sen writes on ‘Remembering displacement in the making of everyday life in Kolkata: A sociological study’ where she interviews a family in the city and underscores the theme of displacement and what memory and perception is attached to that sense of displacement. She brings in conceptual frameworks of associational memory and social remembrance.

The last paper is by Poulami Saha, and the title of her paper is ‘Mapping the entangled and intricate memories of diasporic lives; revisiting the pneumonic spaces in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. The author establishes a very rudimentary connection among time, space and memory and various kinds of artifacts that are associated with it. Political anxiety and depression at large including the Taliban aggression and the effects of the Russian invasion.

            This issue also contains two book reviews, Alleys are filled with future alphabets authored by poet Gopal Lahiri, and Oral Stories of the Totos by Ketaki Datta. The book reviews are aimed at giving a concrete detail about the major thematic concerns, the stylistic variations, and major literary and socio-cultural explorations that these books make.

Here we present Litinfinite Journal Vol. IV, Issue I for our readers.

I express heartfelt thanks to all our esteemed editors, reviewers, and contributors.

I offer my sincerest thanks to Penprints Publication, for their constant technical support.

Thanking You,

Sreetanwi Chakraborty

Editor-in-Chief

Litinfinite Journal

Kolkata

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